Irish minister to bring forward protections for gay teachers

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It is not often to see Ireland come before the UK in terms of progression of equality for LGBT people. However this is a move in the right direction. Here, in Northern Ireland, I have to remove all traces of working hard for a local gay charity when it comes to applying for a job as a teacher as schools can effectively discriminate against me if I apply and make it clear that I am gay. I have to go back in the closet to be a teacher. That makes me die inside… someone please help me change this!

But Northern Ireland is a different kettle of fish from the Republic of Ireland, as there are far more religious extremists (along with sectarian tensions) in the North which do not exist to the same extent as in the south.

@ James, I am certainly not a defender of the record on gay rights of the Ireland. That homosexual acts were decriminalised only in 1993 is a disgrace, for example. But there are actually a few areas where Ireland was well ahead of the UK: an equal age of consent was introduced in Ireland before the UK; protections against discrimination in employment, goods, facilities and services was introducted in Ireland before the UK; incitement to hatred on grounds of sexual orientation was prohibited in Ireland before the UK.

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